EFF, Illegal Wiretapping, Google "docs" and you

As I finish my second cup of coffee, I begin to ruminate on yesterday's passel of "big news'. . .Lost in the shuffle of the "Potomac Primaries" and the seeming inevitability of a November race for President between Senators McCain and Obama, was the vote in the United States Senate to immunize telecoms from legal responsibility for the felonious activity they participated in during their felonious dalliance with the federal government's illegal wiretapping program (btw--started well before the attacks of 9/11). . .This troubling event sends a warning to every American concerned about electronic privacy. . .For those of you interested in this area, I recommend checking out the Electronic Frontier Foundation (www.eff.org). . .Recently, EFF decided to participate in a very important lawsuit that has ramifications for all of us who have a laptop and travel with it. . .A man who was fed up with the invasive search of his laptop everytime he traveled by air filed a lawsuit alleging an ongoing breach of his 4th Amendment rights--btw, the phrase "probable cause" is still included in the text of the 4th Amendment to our U.S. Constitution. . .Now how does "Google docs" fit in. . .Well, the people at Google, who have laptops and travel with them, have produced something which allows one to avoid the aforementioned problem. . .With "Google docs" you don't need to travel with a laptop, you just store your work with "Google docs" and when you arrive at your appointed destination, find an internet connection (at your hotel, at the airport, etc, etc, etc.), login, and you're back to work (does Google protect the privacy of your stored work product?--we will see). . .Pretty neat, huh?. . .Well, Google thinks it's neat enough that this is a major part of its tactics to knock Microsoft off of the technology pinnacle. . .Now you understand why Microsoft is attempting to purchase Yahoo!. . .Stay tuned. . .drfaust

Declining Enrollment and Charter Schools

Just finished reading the superintendent's missive concerning the budget shortfall vis a vis declining enrollment. . .I've been in the district for fifteen years. . .During that period I've watched our district dance with the charter school movement. . .Now fifteen years later we are reaping the fruits of our missteps. . .If you are not aware of the following statistic, you should be: St. Paul, Minnesota has a higher percentage of students enrolled in charter schools (about 13-14%) than any other city in the United States. . .Of course, we have declining enrollment and a resulting multimillion dollar budget shortfall--add even 1/2 of those charter school students to the rolls of the St. Paul Public Schools, and our budget shortfall shrinks to a manageable number. . .Why the alleged leaders of St. Paul continue to offer support to a movement that continues to gut our school district remains a mystery to me--or does it?. . .Ask yourself this question: what has the Humphrey Institute, for example, done for you lately?. . .Is it truly an organization interested in the continued viability of the St. Paul Public Schools, or does it operate as a veritable "Trojan Horse" within our midst, with its real goal the continued support of alternative educational institutions to the point where our District is reduced in size to the point of irrelevance. . .Think of anti-government activist Grover Norquist's notorious quote: "We will shrink government to the size where it can be drowned in a bathtub.". . .Naivete allowed the charter school movement to be viewed as a symbiotic partner with our district, when it fact it operates in a parasitic fashion sucking the very lifeblood (students) from the host until inevitable death occurs. . .To be continued. . .drfaust

Campaign Results

If you want an easy way to transmit tonight's to students tomorrow, go to Yahoo's excellent "Political Dashboard" site. . .At Political Dashboard you can show tonight's results for the Democratic and Republican primaries in the Chesapeake--Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. . .I've been using the site in my classes during the campaign and it is very easy for the students to see the results and basic demographic breakdown of the voting. . .The "Election 2008" site (CNN) is superior in that it os more detailed. . .For example, CNN breaks down the results by either county or Congressional Districts, but its graphic presentation is inferior. . .For a quick summary, I recommend "Political Dashboard"; for a more detailed look at the results use "Election 2008". . .For all you cheeseheads: Wisconsin decides next Tuesday--the land of the Progressive tradition (see: Fighting Bob LaFollette) and the birthplace of the GOP: Ripon, Wisconsin (1854). . .drfaust

Signing in and the Election

It's seems I'm not alone in being unable to sign in to "blogger.com" while I'm on the SPPS server. . .So, for the near future, it appears I will have to blog from home. . .Hopefully we can solve this problem. . .As I watch the replay of last night's Presidential debates, I am reminded how important citizen participation is to our system of representative democracy. . .Take time to attend your precinct caucus on Tuesday, February 5th. . .It's important. . .NCLB is gathering more and more attention from candidates at the national and local levels, respectfully. . .On Saturday morning, I attended a meet and greet with Senatorial candidate Mike Ciresi in my downtown Mpls neighborhood. . .I asked him pointblank what would he do with NCLB--His answer? "Scrap it!" . . .Recently, important members of the Republican legislature, as well as the Governor, have talked about pulling our state out of NCLB. . .Whatever your feeling may be on this issue, the polity needs to hear from you. . .Take some time off on Tuesday Feb. 5th to attend your precinct caucus. . .I will have to miss almost all of my first class of a graduate class that evening. . .In both the long run, and the short run, this year's election holds massive implications for our profession. . .If you would like your students to hear from the winners in the Iowa caucus, last Thursday, both speeches are available, in their entirety on YouTube--just search for "Barack Obama Iowa Caucus Victory Speech" and "Mike Huckabee Iowa Caucus Victory Speech". . .The Obama speech runs almost thirteen minutes and the Huckabee speech clocks in at about ten minutes. . .drfaust

Iowa caucuses

Good morning. . .What a historical night in Iowa!. . .For those of you who feel the urge to show your students what happened in Iowa last night, www.c-span.org has the post-caucus speeches of last night's big five: Obama, Edwards, Clinton, Huckabee, and Romney. . .Remember, the New Hampshire primary is next Tuesday, January 8th. . .During an election year, C-Span is an invaluable aid. . .Btw, Erik Erickson of Como Park took 27 students to Mason City, Iowa yesterday (Cerro Gordo county for those of us who have done time in Iowa--lol)--see yesterday's Pioneer Press. . .I just want to remind this crew that Minnesota has precinct caucuses on Tuesday, February 5th. . .You don't have to cross state lines to observe, or participate in, the caucus phenomenon. . .Why someone felt the need to drive south on I-35 for anything more than a pork tenderloin sandwich is beyond me. . .Remember, the grass isn't always greener on the other side of the caucus hill. . .drfaust

Google Alert Followup

Well, I said that I would inform if Google Alert works. I signed up for one alert daily concerning copyright law and I received my first alert this morning (01/03/08) with twelve articles running the gamut from RIAA and copyright, IPods and copyright, and German copyright law. What an outstanding service! I need to reiterate the importance of what is occurring in copyright law, not just here in the U.S., but all over the world. Stay tuned. drfaust

Thing 13. Subscription Databases

I have distributed handouts to my students listing all the Online Learning Resources that we offer at the SPPS website. Also, they have the passwords and usernames for student access. Second semester will illustrate how well they have learned to use these resources. After the AP U.S. History exam in early May, my AP students will be doing a Minnesota History research project. The after-test period is always problematic for AP students, because the tendency to believe the class is over. As for the specific resources, the Minnesota Reflections site maintained by the Minnesota Digital Library will be the foundation of the research project. It is a fantastic site and very user-friendly. I am already using ABC CLIO in my AP class. The Gale Virtual Reference Library will be helpful in my students' research projects in the latter part of the second semester. United Streaming is a natural for my work, although I do not believe there are videos concerning Minnesota History. Right now, I am considering using CNN Student News as a regular morning newscast for my classes. I was a fan of Channel 1. No, I did not agree with commercials, but they did some very good journalism. I can remember Lisa Ling doing a multi-part series on her travels within Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. The students liked the news, and I was aware that in most cases, it would be the only news show they would watch each day. Hopefully, the quality of CNN Student News will be of a caliber that interests my students. I would like to use the Smithsonian Education site and show it to my students, but I am having a heckuva time dealing with search function. Anybody having success with the Smithsonian search engine? The Electronic Library of Minnesota, or ELM, is an outstanding site. I just need a library card--New Year's Resolution #2. I need much more work with databases--this blog is merely a starting point. drfaust